Did you know that the word ‘very’ is an almost meaningless adjective and/or adverb?

‘Very' is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen.’ – Florence King (an American novelist)

There is a plethora of words that would be better suited than a humdrum word like very.

So, this silly little word has originated from the Latin verus meaning ‘true’. Then Old French decided that it should be verai, where Middle English found it and coined the word very.

I know that we all use very; it comes naturally and we don’t even have to think about it. Please don’t be offended when I say that it’s simply laziness (I am guilty as well).

To complicate matters somewhat, it can be used as an adjective and an adverb. The next time that you want to compliment The CV Branch’s work, say, ‘This is the exact CV that I need.’. Doesn’t it sound better than ‘This is the very CV that I need.’? (Used as an adjective before a noun in this example.)

Now as an adverb, it can be used to indicate a high degree of something, in other words as an intensifier. Like this; ‘Your LinkedIn profile is very good.’. Uninspiring. Rather say, ‘Your LinkedIn profile is outstanding.’ Much better, don’t you think? Especially when The CV Branch has helped you to create a marvellous profile.

Use very to emphasize a superlative and an adjective. When you ‘want your résumé by Monday at the very latest’, it conveys the same message as, ‘My résumé should be completed by Monday.’. The message is the same if you think about it.

Instead of saying that ‘this is my very own cover letter’, tell employers that ‘it’s your personal cover letter’.

You can use very in the sense that it means ‘the same’. Compare these two sentences; ‘Sonia said the very same thing.’. I’d rather she said, ‘the exact same thing’.

But remember that you cannot use very with verbs.

There is a newspaper in the United Kingdom that uses very so indiscriminately that it’s almost painful. One would think that their journalists would know better. But on the other hand, news is so fluent that they probably don’t have the time to think of a better word. I’m sure that that’s their excuse, mind you.

I like to replace very with ‘so’. In the sense of ‘I’m so excited.’. But there is a case where I wouldn’t necessarily change very; in the sentence, ‘Very good, sir, will that be all?’ It expresses consent or agreement. What do you think?

Have a look at these replacement words:

very beautiful exquisite

very serious solemn

very good superb

very week feeble

very worried anxious

From now on, the only times that you’re allowed to use very, are in these examples;

Very; an album by the Pet Shop Boys,

the lunar crater called ‘Very’,

the Martian crater with the same name after Frank Washington Very, and

Remember I wrote the article on how not to let your mind explode while establishing your own company? I mentioned that it was to be a four-part series. As promised, this one deals with the frustrations I’ve encountered and often still do.

1. Websites and Web developers

I believe that I can relieve a small nation of their national debt with all the money I’ve spent on Web developers. If I remember correctly, I’ve tried five of them!

My point is: Be prepared for frustration. I had two websites, and no, not because I’m so important, but because the scope of my company has changed. The result was more frustration with having the site published, gaining an internet presence, and here we go again.

2. Google

It seems to me that without Google, humanity might experience a soupçon* of agony. Did you know that it has transformed into a verb as well? Now that’s having ‘arrived’ if you ask me. And remember, if Google can’t find you, nobody will. Your company might not even exist for that matter.

It took me about a year to figure this out, to understand how The Thing works and then to realize that It obsessively changes Its algorithms.

3. Social media

I should probably have started with this frustration. Do you have ANY idea how many platforms there are? It’s nauseating. And the entire world clamours for attention. ‘Does inconsequential me have any prospects of being seen/recognized/read/gain attention?’

I have a list of all the platforms where the company has a presence because it’s becoming ridiculous how many there are. (And all to satisfy the Google-beast.)

So remember now: you like on Facebook, you follow on Twitter, you connect on LinkedIn, you pin on Pinterest, and I can’t remember now what you do with Instagram or Google+.

I trust that my problem is clear.

4. Uncapped ADSL, expenses, etc.

During the last two years, money have* been growing feet and walked out my front door. Promise.

My uncapped ADSL shouldn’t be mentioned here; best decision I’ve made in the recent past. Between Telkom, MWeb, and of course my host, my problems have been negligible.

So between continued education, running expenses, a bit of wine, design, and books…it’s constant toil.

But man am I having fun!

*Quick French lesson

Soupçon means a dash, a bit, a tad, etc.

You will notice the ‘ç’ symbol; it’s called a cédille or in English ‘cedilla’. It shows that the ‘c’ should be pronounced as an ‘s’ and not a ‘k’.

If you are interested in the influence that French had, and has, on English, Emeritus Professor Antoinette Renouf of English Language and Linguistics at the Birmingham City University wrote a (long) article as a contribution to a book on the subject of Gallicisms; Shall we Hors-d’Oeuvres? Uses and Misuses of Gallicisms in English.

*Quick English lesson

Uncountable nouns (like ‘money’) fall into one of the following categories:

substance – air, wood, water, gold;

feeling – love, happiness, fear;

quality/characteristic – patience, strength, beauty, kindness;

activity – soccer, karate, chess; and

idea – democracy, freedom, peace.

Unaccountable nouns only have the plural form and are not used with a/an or numbers.

I have written a post about uncountable nouns after a colleague of mine pointed out that this description is not entirely accurate.

I’ve written a little piece on the frustrations you may count on when you establish your own business. And as you know, I often include a ‘quick lesson’ at the end of my posts.

The topic of today’s grammar post is uncountable nouns, also called mass nouns and non-countable nouns. A colleague has pointed out to me that the quick lesson that I gave in the frustrations post is a little misleading, if not simply wrong. Hence my plan to devote an entire post to the subject.

I am shamelessly ignoring the fact that most people find grammar boring beyond belief. But this is a language site and blog, so I cannot always write about driving in Germany or establishing a business or love.

So what is it?

Easy to remember: you cannot count the noun.

'A noun that is uncountable cannot be made plural or used with a or an.' – Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

They are usually concepts or substances and cannot be separated into individual elements.

Its categories and examples:

Concepts: honesty, information, patience

Activities: playing, reading, sleeping

Food: butter, sugar, rice

Gas: air, oxygen, smoke

Liquids: coffee, water, wine

Materials: cloth, wood, metal

Items: clothing, software, money

Natural phenomena: heat, rain, sunshine

Particles: dust, salt, sugar

Breaking the rules

If you’ve ever studied or learned a language, you will know that practically no rule holds true.

Let’s look at water, it conforms to all the rules:

A water is clearly wrong.

However, you can say a drop of water, or some water, or a little.

But…hark at this. Have you heard of the term ‘taking the waters’? For instance, in Bath, England. The hot, mineral waters in Bath date from the Roman times and are said to have healing and therapeutic properties. There are many towns in Germany which have the word Bad in front of their names. The reason is the same, the town is or has been known for its hot spring. It also indicates that the town has received spa-status.

Bad Kissingen in Bavaria has been a spa town since 1883 and boasts many illustrious visitors in the past; the Austrian Empress Elizabeth (Sisi), the Prussian statesman Prince Otto von Bismarck, and the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini.

I had the opportunity to smell and taste these ‘miracle’ waters in Aachen. Let me tell you, it smells horrific and tastes rather unpleasant due to its high sulphur content. Aachen, incidentally, prefers not to use the prefix Bad, something to do with the alphabet...

To return to uncountable nouns; see, there you have an irregularity - an uncountable noun has now taken on a plural form. But it is slightly comforting to know that that it’s most common in the food and liquid categories.

Not breaking the rules

Consider sunshine; the plural is patently impossible – sunshines. Not happening, right? Nor is a sunshine.

There are ways of quantifying uncountable nouns:

a ray of sunshine; it (only) appears countable by using the preposition of which is used for; relating to, belonging to, or connected with.

no sunshine; no is a quantity adjective used to describe an approximate amount.

a little

Here is a quick test to see if you’ve read everything… Let me know what your score is.

Quick German lesson

Das Bad means bath, spa, or watering place. It is a neutral noun and the plural is die Bäder. Remember, German nouns always start with a capital.

Until I started delving deeper into this topic, I didn’t realize just how advanced and popular graphology is. It has developed into a science, with many applications and hundreds of websites dedicated to the subject. There is even software available for analyzing your handwriting.

Graphology is the analysis of the psychological structure of the human subject through his or her handwriting. The central nervous system provides a direct and undistorted link to the deeper self. – The British Academy of Graphology

The study of handwriting has proved especially successful in areas such as; personnel employment, vocational guidance, and with children.

In the employment industry, graphology can assist employers with preventing incompatibility, determining suitability and aptitude, to mention a few. It can help people to make vocational choices, choosing a suitable career. And with children, the analysis can give an idea of a child’s development, identifying learning difficulties, and alerting emotional or physical problems. Graphology can even play a role in marriage counselling.

The feeling for and love of handwriting are spontaneous happenings. At a precise moment of our life, their written form falls suddenly under the light of consciousness. – Max Pulver

Forensic science makes use of handwriting analysis on a large scale. Investigations into handwriting identity and imitations or forgery, may be answered.

The aspects of graphology to be considered are numerous: the thickness and consistency of strokes; line separation and direction; the size, shape and angle of letters, as well as how they are connected. In principal, these factors can be precisely described.

Unfortunately, graphology has encountered much negative press. It is often associated with fortune tellers and people assessing your likelihood to succeed, based on merely a signature.

But as with most sciences, this study is constantly researched and the methods are improved.

Just for fun, have a look at what your handwriting, inadvertently, says about your character!

'The laws of Nature are written in the language of mathematics…the symbols are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to comprehend a single word.' – Galileo Galilei

I can unequivocally say that yes, mathematics is indeed a language. In fact, it is only one language of many that are not the same as ‘plain English’, such as music. And as a language, it is far more unambiguous than English. But mathematics has its own typical, technical terminology, the same as most professions.

It is, however, much the same as learning a foreign language; it is not spoken in the home and is almost exclusively learnt at school. The basic mathematical concepts should be developed in much the same way as the rules and regulations of a spoken language. Good fundamental knowledge and understanding is the only manner in which to proceed. The way in which the structures and terminology of language is taught, mirrors those of mathematics – basic numbers, shapes, quantities, and the like. The teaching methodology of CRA (Concrete to Representative to Abstract) focuses on brain activity, where the child first learns to play with objects in order to apply those skills to mathematical language. It can be compared to the routine in which we learn a second language. If we don’t use the acquired language regularly, we won’t be able to sustain our fluency; the same with mathematics. We often learn only the basic facts, unable to apply the solutions.

The parts that make up a language

Vocabulary; consists of symbols and words

Grammar; how the vocabulary may be used

Syntax; the linear placements of vocabulary

Discourse or narrative; the sentences that are structured using the vocabulary

Community; those who understand the language

Meanings; the communication achieved by means of the vocabulary

Mathematical vocabulary

Signs and symbols must be decoded, requiring a certain skillset. They often present in the form of pictures. The benefit is of course that speakers of any language can understand them. Without mathematical notations, or symbols, the language loses its power. We are dealing with a visual language.

Examples:

= equality 2+3=5

≈ approximately equal √2≈1.41

ℝ real numbers π∈ℝ, 7∈ℝ, √(-1)∉ℝ

∝ proportional to f(x) ∝ g(x)

(a,b) open interval (a,b) = {x | a < x < b}

English language terms can mean something entirely different in mathematical language. Look at the following examples:

The surface of any sphere is equal to four times the greatest circle in it [S = 4∏r2]

– Archimedes, On the Sphere and the Cylinder, 220 BC

Mathematical grammar

Unlike natural language, mathematical language is understood by all mathematicians, regardless of their first language, hence the term; ‘a universal language’. The notations used for formulas function independently, despite the fact that some writing systems follow a right-to-left line, and not the Latin alphabet in which mathematics is written.

The following formula is understandable to native speakers of English, Russian, Arabic, and every possible language. Natural language phrases consist of parts of speech, as do mathematics, the formula below being an example.

sin x + a cos2x ≥ 0

This formula may be regarded as a sentence or sentential phrase in which the greater than or equal symbol acts as the verb.

In Mathematics as profession and vocation, in Mathematics: Frontiers and Perspectives,(V. Arnold et al, ed.), AMS, 200, p. 154, Yu. Manin said that ‘The basis of all human culture is language, and mathematics is a special kind of linguistic activity’.

Verbs

Schwartz & Kenney (1995) explains the ‘verbs’ of mathematics:

Inferring: to apply the gained results to the initial problem, and subsequently interpreting those results.

Modelling and formulating: to produce suitable descriptions and relationships so as to mathematize the original challenge.

Communicating: to report to a particular audience on the outcome of the problem.

Transforming and manipulating: to change the mathematical form of the original problem in order to convey corresponding forms.

'My own attitude, which I share with many of my colleagues, is simply that mathematics is a language. Like English, or Latin, or Chinese, there are certain concepts for which mathematics is particularly well suited: it would be as foolish to attempt to write a love poem in the language of mathematics as to prove theFundamental Theorem of Algebrausing the English language.'

– R.L.E. Schwarzenberger

History

Mathematical language has been evolving for the last 2,500 years. To mention one important contributor; René Descartes (1596–1650), the first mathematician to use letters at the end of the alphabet to indicate an unknown quantity. He introduced the power notations x2, x3.

Robert Recorde (c.1510–1558) invented the sign of equality, published in his book The Whetstone of Witte (London, 1557):

'I will sette as I doe often in worke use, a paire of paralleles, or Gemowe lines of one lengthe, thus: =, bicause noe.2. thynges, can be moare equalle.'

Everything I have read in my research for this article agrees: Mathematics is a Language.

Further reading

This book comes highly recommended:

Devlin, K. The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible, Henry Holt and Company, 2000.

Thank you

There are two people I have to thank for their assistance with this article.

Mr George Pauer; a man curious about almost anything. His mathematical interest goes much deeper than this mere article. I thank my wonderful friend for reviewing my article.

Mr Floris Schoeman; a mathematics coach, amanuensis and mathematics genius. As a great supporter of The CV Branch, thank you for giving me the idea to write this article, and thank you for your explanation of how mathematical language learning and ‘normal’ language learning connect.

Mr Schoeman offers maths coaching with a difference. You may find him on:

Oxford... I am enamoured. The university, the town (which I haven’t seen, but it can only be marvellous), and the language. If my dad left me a trust fund, I am convinced that by now I would have had several doctorate degrees in medieval history and languages. Alas, I have to contend myself with ‘The Oxford Dictionary’ – in inverted commas because it deserves reverence.

I have a few favourites:

New Hart’s Rules,

New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, and

the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.

Unless otherwise specified, my writing follows the rules as prescribed by this Organization - at least I try to, I should probably add.

You may now think that ‘pray tell, what precisely does Oxford have to do with X?’ Well, I found this Oxford YouTube video which offers us a bit of an explanation of the use of the letter ‘x’ in the English language. It inspired me to look up and share a few words starting with this phenomenon of a letter.

After Q and Z, X is the least common letter in English. And like so many other aspects of our language, it has its origin in Greek; Χ and Ψ. I don’t want to list every language that contains an X in their alphabet, but from what I can see, most do, with varying pronunciations. It is interesting to note that the words starting with an X in English are all loan-words or of modern creation.

1. Xylitol

Probably not baked with xylitol...

A sugar substitute. And a good one, apparently. In my opinion, this fact will probably change tomorrow. It is a sugar alcohol, pretty much as sweet as sucrose, but with 33 per cent less calories. And it seems to be beneficial for your dental health.

2. Xanadu

No, I’m not talking about the film. Xanadu is supposed to be a glorious, idealized place. Where dreams turn into reality even before you realized that you had that dream.

3. Xylophone

A musical instrument. It is made up of two wooden bars of different lengths. You ‘hit’ these bars with two small sticks. I played a xylophone in a primary school concert, dropped it, sending all the bars flying, crying like only a little girl can, and was embarrassed for the rest of that school year.

A xylophone

5. X in mathematics

In mathematics (never my favourite subject), an ‘x’ represents a number whose value is not mentioned. You all remember (x + 2) – 3 = who knows what.

I have written another article on the relationships between language and mathematics.

5. XML

I’m not even going to pretend to understand this one. It is an Extensible Markup Language; a system used for marking the structure of text on a computer. An example is when you create a website.

6. Xhosa

I know that the correct word is isiXhosa, but I decided to use it anyway as it is such a truly South Africa word. Here is a YouTube video that explains the ‘X’-sound.

There are a plethora of other uses of the letter or symbol X:

magnification,

dimensions,

multiplication,

a kiss, and

the Roman numeral for ‘10’.

I have used the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary for words and definitions.

Quick Xhosa lesson

isiXhosa is a tonal language which means that the same arrangement of vowels and consonants may have different meanings, depending on the intonation. The ‘click consonants’ are, of course, a distinctive characteristic of the language.

Today’s offering is a delightful exercise. The poem, The Chaos, illustrates the many irregularities in the English language's spelling and pronunciation. It is only when you see, and read, these mostly everyday-life words written next to each other, that you begin to understand the variables in the language that most of us speak.

I find the existence of so many ‘abnormalities’ quite ironic. The English, apparently, mock the French language because of the exact same thing. But in their defence, French is a pronunciation-difficult language. On the other hand, the French and English have blamed each other for a plethora of things for many centuries.

The Chaos was written in the 1920s by G. Nolst Trenité aka ‘Charivarius’. Not an Englishman, mind you, but a Dutch writer who called himself an observer of the English language. He advises you at the end of the poem to give up learning English...

So before you begin, I’ll include a few definitions of words that I didn’t understand where I had to consult my beloved Oxford dictionaries. (Let me know what your difficult words are!)

Terpsichore: The Muse of lyric poetry and dance. From the Greek; ‘delighting in dancing’.

Brougham: A horse-drawn carriage with a roof, four wheels, and an open driver’s seat in front.

A brougham

Lichen: A simple slow-growing plant which typically forms a low crust-like, leaf-like, or branching growth on rocks, walls, and trees.

Melpomene: The Muse of Tragedy in Greek and Roman Mythology. She is a songstress who wears a tragic mask. Her singing is so sad that it has been speculated that she may have been the sirens' mother. (The women who lured the sailors to their deaths in The Odyssey.)

The internet has presented different audiences and purposes for writing. It is now so much more interactive than paper.

In the book Working with Texts, Adrian Beard (ed.) says that:

'Keyboard symbols, themselves the basis of new art forms in the shape of emoticons, can take their place alongside sound files, video clips and animations where text can sing, dance and play.'

Online writers can now boast of being textual designers, creating a vibrant assortment of bricolage (tinkering about / odd jobs). When writing a blog for instance, readers are able to click on various links or sections, able to view new pages (permeable writing). An online writer’s work may be read by a mass audience, different to writing a book intended for publishing.

When we read online, we don’t necessarily read in a linear fashion. Reading non-linear, is not reading a text from the top to the bottom of a page, but only sections of a page.

'An immediate consequence [of the World Wide Web] for English was the emergence of a new range of language varieties, as people learned to adapt their language to cope with the linguistic constraints and opportunities provided by the new technology.' – The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language

Online languages are more expressive; providing opportunities for creative self-expression and interaction, with new scopes for presentation. And just as the printing press was viewed with grave suspicion, so is this (new) language deplored by linguistic purists. They have a point; visual communication is much stronger, causing literacy and linguistic skills to lag behind.

Writing has to be brief because the competition for attention is fierce. The message has to come across strong and quickly, leading to the occurrence of highly abbreviated customs and styles. There is also the emergence of text messaging to contend with: ‘…exploiting the very limited communicative possibilities made available on tiny cellphone screens…’, according to the Cambridge Encyclopedia. In fact, texting and SMS (Short Message Service) messaging have led to a new, identifiable English in less than five years. Have a look at a few examples:

gmta: great minds think alike

swdyt: so what do you think?

b4: before

gr8: great

msg: message

and so the list goes on.

In fact, texting reminds us a little of the telegram, does it not!

The Author: Believe it or not, as a traditionalist, I still ‘compose’ messages in ‘proper’ English, to the extent that my teenage stepson does the same, but only to me. Probably afraid of the wicked stepmother…